Chapter 227: Executing Lu Wuji
This unexpected change didn’t even give Xue San time to react.
Snap!
A crisp crack rang out from his neck as it broke, with blood gus.h.i.+ng out like a geyser as it splattered everywhere. His eyes rolled up into their sockets like dead fish going belly up.
His hands clawed wildly in the empty air, trying to shake off the golden shadow on his body, but to no avail.
This abrupt development completely flabbergasted his four men. When they came to their senses, they leapt forward, wanting to save Xue San.
Xue San used all the strength in his body in order to maintain a death grip on the golden shadow while screaming out raspily, “Run, run!”
Xue San saw death grin madly in his face as he knew that he’d been bitten in a vital part. He also knew that the spirit creature who’d bit him was much stronger than him. Even if they had met in face to face combat, he still wouldn’t have beaten it, not to mention being ambushed by it.
Therefore, he only had one thought left in his mind -- to hold onto this spirit creature at all costs and protect his companions as they made their escape!
“Run! Don’t let me die in regret!” Xue San’s face contorted as he thrashed around like a madman.
His four men looked at each other and knew that Xue San was using his death to cover their retreat. They didn’t hesitate as they about faced and charged outside.
Even if there was an army surrounding them outside, at this moment, the inside of this secret room was patently more horrifying than the outside.
Lu Wuji s.h.i.+vered and trembled all over as a depthless fear was revealed in his eyes. He looked over at Jiang Chen and wanted to quietly slip away.
A smile played around Jiang Chen’s lips as he ignored Lu Wuji’s small movements.
Lu Wuji was delighted to see that Jiang Chen was ignoring him and took off running. However, his face changed drastically upon his first step outside.
There were at least tens of thousands of Dragonteeth Guard surrounding the premises.
The person he hated the most, Tian Shao, was watching Lu Wuji with a mocking smile on his face.
“Lu Wuji, you won’t die if you don’t commit actions that condemn you to death. You colluded with external enemies and jeopardized the safety of the Skylaurel Kingdom. What else do you have to say for yourself?” Tian Shao asked coldly.
Lu Wuji’s face was ashen colored as he tried to defend himself, “Don’t you slander me Tian Shao! I just happened to be patrolling this area and was about to investigate these suspicious people. You…”
“Hahaha, Lu Wuji, you still want to sprout excuses even when things are already at this point. I hope you can convince the king and honored tutor Ye Chonglou with these words.” Tian Shao’s gaze was full of contempt. He looked at Lu Wuji as if he was looking at a dead man.
Lu Wuji knew that if he lost his footing here, then it would all be over. He had to stubbornly fight to the end, even if he’d been caught in the act.
As long as he firmly denied anything until his uncle appeared, there would still be a hope of being able to turn this around!
“Tian Shao, you’re framing me! I’m going to complain to the general director about you!”
Tian Shao laughed easily, “You’ve always harmed others greatly by framing them. Lu Wuji, I know you’re in your death struggles, so I can clearly tell you, this is all pointless! I’m framing you? Did I invite those people from the Hidden Hand? Did I trick you into coming here? Did I cause all those injuries on Xue Tong’s body? Lu Wuji, this kind of living on while helping others secretly will not be tolerated by the country. This time, you won’t be able to slip one past this time even if you have an all powerful backer!”
Lu Wuji yelled, “Tian Shao, you’re just a general in the Dragonteeth Guard, as am I! You have no right to point and yell at my face. Get out of my way, I’m going to see the general director. I have grievances to report!”
Lu Wuji also knew that there was no point in flapping his lips with Tian Shao at the moment. His only hope was to find his uncle to discuss a responding strategy.
Tian Shao’s face grew frosty and he smiled coldly, “Get out of the way? Lu Wuji, you’re too naive! I’m here on behalf of the Crown Prince to arrest serial criminals. You aided and abetted them, and thus are the same as them. Men, arrest Lu Wuji! Kill him if he resists!”
Lu Wuji was slightly panicked to see Tian Shao taking such a hard line, but he also knew that he couldn’t back down at this time. Only death awaited him if he backed down.
His face sank as he shouted, “Who dares make a move? I’m the nephew of vice director Yang Zhou and am as if his own son. Whoever makes a move against me is making a move against him!”
One had to say, vice director Yang still had great influence within the Dragonteeth Guard. The Guards’ momentum was actually somewhat arrested by Lu Wuji’s words after his shout.
Suddenly --
A remote voice traveled in from behind Lu Wuji, “Vice director Yang? Is he that incredible? I’m precisely going to make a move against you, what are you gonna do about it?”
A figure shot out from inside and kicked out at Lu Wuji’s b.u.t.t when the words finished sounding.
Bam!
Lu Wuji was stomped downwards into the ground and flew out more than ten meters, bouncing off the ground. At least half the bones in his body were broken as fresh blood spewed out of his mouth and his dantian was destroyed.
This kick had taken half of Lu Wuji’s life with it.
Jiang Chen!
The person who’d kicked out was of course, Jiang Chen.
Jiang Chen’s body was like a kite’s as it rolled and landed in front of Lu Wuji, his foot firmly planted on the latter’s face.
“Take a good look Lu Wuji, the person hitting you is me, Jiang Chen!”
Fresh blood spewed out of Lu Wuji’s mouth as the violent light of viper shot out of his eyes. “Jiang Chen, you dumb animal, who the h.e.l.l do you think you are to dare and hit me? Just you wait, my uncle’s not going to let you get away with this! He’ll kill you, your entire family, and your entire family clan, just you wait!”
These groundless threats were like a light breeze by Jiang Chen’s ears, completely without any power at all.
Revealing a coldly detached smile, Jiang Chen’s tone was remote, “Lu Wuji, I don’t need your reminder to know that your uncle partic.i.p.ated in this matter. Don’t you worry, I won’t let a single one of those who partic.i.p.ated in this matter off the hook. I’ll send your uncle to you to keep you company on the way to h.e.l.l!”
Lu Wuji had thrown all caution to the wind at this time as he started laughing uproariously. “Madness, madness! You’re just a country b.u.mpkin, and you want you fight against my uncle? Why don’t you look at yourself in the mirror, are you worthy of fighting against my uncle?”
Tian Shao also walked over and said coldly, “Lu Wuji, you’re the one who should look in the mirror. How can you bear to retain a straight face at a moment like this?”
Lu Wuji grinded out through gritted teeth, “Tian Shao, you pathetic lackey, don’t you be too proud! I’ll settle my debts with you one day as well!”
Jiang Chen barked out in laughter upon hearing this, “Do you hear that brother Tian? We’ll be the ones suffering if we don’t pull up evil by its roots. Give Lu Wuji over to me!”
Tian Shao was a bit taken aback, but immediately nodded. “Alright.”
According to the rules, Lu Wuji was a general of the Dragonteeth Guard. In order to kill him, one had to go through a trial in the Guard.
However, Tian Shao naturally wouldn’t go against Jiang Chen’s wishes with how things currently stood.
“Young master Chen, do things cleanly.” Tian Shao said lowly.
Jiang Chen chuckled, “Where is Guo Jin?”
Guo Jin was one of Jiang Chen’s personal guards and thus had partic.i.p.ated in this time’s operations. He walked out from within the crowd.
Jiang Chen said lightly, “Lu Wuji colluded with killers from the Hidden Hand, kidnapped Xue Tong, and conspired to a.s.sa.s.sinate me. As my follower, and Xue Tong’s comrade, what say you?”
Guo Jin chuckled and took out his sword, “He should be executed of course!”
“Do it.” Jiang Chen said faintly.
Jiang Chen had no hesitation at all in killing Lu Wuji. The latter had thoroughly stepped over his bottom line this time, and was a person who had to die in Jiang Chen’s eyes.
“Understood!”
Guo Jin’s blade drew back and was about to come cras.h.i.+ng down.
A loud roar exploded at this moment, “Hold!”
A group of men rushed in from outside the encirclement. The person in question was Lu Wuji’s supervisor, Xin Wudao. This person had been one of Prince Ye Dao’s followers during Tutor Ye’s birthday banquet, and was the same culprit who’d captured the Qiao brothers.
This person was also an actual general within the Dragonteeth Guard and one of Yang Zhao’s confidantes. He held quite a bit of power within the Dragonteeth Guard and was even more powerful than newcomer Tian Shao.
“Jiang Chen!” Xin Wudao’s gaze was cold and harsh. “Who the h.e.l.l are you to use illegal punishment to execute one of the vice generals of my Dragonteeth Guard?”
It was as if Lu Wuji had seen his salvation when he saw Xin Wudao. “Brother Xin, save me, save me! This group of traitors want to rebel! Has my uncle arrived?”
Xin Wudao’s face was like frozen water as he didn’t have time to respond to Lu Wuji, turning his head to speak to Tian Shao instead, “Tian Shao, as a vice general of the Dragonteeth Guard, how can you sit idly by while a band of thugs uses illegal punishment on one of your comrades? Is this your integrity as a general of the Dragonteeth Guard?”
However, Tian Shao wasn’t the same person as of old. How would he be frightened with just a few words from Xin Wudao?
“General Xin, I’m under orders to carry out the law. As for how I carry it out, that seems to be my business and you have no right to interfere? This Lu Wuji colluded with external enemies and brought danger to our Skylaurel Kingdom. As a result, he has forfeited his status as a Dragonteeth Guard comrade a long time ago. Not to mention, it’s not your s.h.i.+ft today, what’s your intentions in bringing so many people here to interfere with me applying the law?”
Tian Shao wasn’t a pushover either. He had the Crown Prince at his back and naturally spoke out with a loud voice. Not to mention that the current situation was very disadvantageous towards Yang Zhou, how could he be frightened by Yang Zhao’s confidante then?
“I’ve brought people here to stop you from committing a perverse act. We haven’t decided on whether or not Lu Wuji is guilty. He’s my underling and I’m taking him back to see the general director. If the general director says he’s guilty, then he’s guilty. If the general director says he’s innocent, then it’s you who’s setting him up!”
Xin Wudao was laying down the law with quite some authority as he wasn’t cowed by Tian Shao at all.
With the way things had developed, it was obviously that everyone was prepared for a fight. Xin Wudao has also received Yang Zhao’s order that he was to s.n.a.t.c.h Lu Wuji back at no matter the cost.
Tian Shao had brought a lot of people, but so had Xin Wudao. The two generals of the Dragonteeth Guard glared at each other, face to face.
Jiang Chen however, laughed at this moment and said to Guo Jin, “Guo Jin, you’re my man and I’m telling you to do it. What are you waiting for?”
Guo Jin chuckled as his blade waved and snapped downwards cleanly.
Blood geysered as Lu Wuji’s head flew into the sky, borne aloft by a column of blood.
This scene came exceedingly fast as even Xin Wudao didn’t have time to react.
By the time he reacted, Lu Wuji’s head was already in midair. His eyes hadn’t even had time to close, and a look of shock and incredulity was still written all over his face.
Xin Wudao was shocked senseless. He hadn’t thought that Jiang Chen would be so bold as to execute Lu Wuji in front of so many Dragonteeth Guards!